Wednesday, a day synonymous with football for many children. On the lawn of the Aubervilliers Municipal Football Club (FCMA), the U10s (9-year-old players) finish their training. Meanwhile, the U11s wait in the stands. We kick the ball a little. We laugh with friends.
Bema, 10, admits that it was difficult for him to realize what happened at the time. “I wanted to keep watching the game, but my mom explained to me that the referee’s words were more important than football.” Ditto for his cousin Ibrahim, also 10 years old: “My parents told me to put myself in the shoes of the coach to whom it happened. It is true that it is not done, he came from far away and we insult him… ” The two teammates hope that the players’ gesture will “Make you think” the world of football. In the meantime, there is no doubt: we must change the arbitrator.
Yakhub, coach of U12 and U13 for 12 years, will remember this moment. “Usually the game resumes, but not this time. I was really moved, especially since it was a black player who took the lead ”, confie the young man of 22 years, “content” of the solidarity shown by the 22 actors in the field.
His colleague Olivier, 49, is more mixed about the accusations of racism: “It may be a problem of understanding. Apparently “negru” in Romanian means “black”, so it wasn’t necessarily pejorative. But probably the players heard him as “nigga”.“
Despite everything, the goalkeeper coach intends to ask the youngsters “What they think, without insisting” , stay open to discussion. “I’m not going to try to convince them. The goal is to hear what they have to say, to understand why they felt that way. It is also our role. We are there to try to prevent these things, just like violence. In Aubervilliers, we are very mixed, it would be a shame to make it a taboo. Having said that, I will tackle the subject with the teenagers, but maybe not with the young ones. Below a certain age, I’m not sure they realize what all this means. ”
–Among the U15s of the Jeanne D’Arc Drancy (JAD) club, the discussion quickly starts in all directions: “It is not normal ! Football is for everyone, not just for whites! ”, begins Rayane. “The referee should be taken off the pitch, he has to go to jail!” adds Abdel. “I would have hit him”, assure Wayden. “They were exemplary, especially since it was a game with a big stake (by winning this match, PSG had the opportunity to finish ahead of their group, editor’s note) ”. If they were to encounter the same problem during a match, all of them said they would leave the field. Only Bilal says he would rather continue to play and win, “To show that he is stronger than insults”. “You think too much about football!” Wayden throws him.
At the amateur level, racist incidents are not exceptional
At the amateur level, stopping matches in the event of a racist incident is nothing new, explains Faouzi. Coach at Drancy for two years, he has been coaching players for more than ten years. “This has happened to me several times in tournaments. Often, supporters insult kids. When that happens, we have to stop the match because the coaches are the only ones to supervise the young people and it becomes difficult to avoid overflows on one side or the other. This creates a big resentment among young people. For the return match, they often call their friends to do battle… ”
–On the side of the Motte de Bobigny stadium, the seven thirty-something who are waiting for their turn on the edge of the field seem more fatalistic. “Me, racism in football doesn’t even shock me anymore”, says one of them, citing the cases of Samuel eto’o and Mario Balotelli, star players insulted because of their skin color. However, the incident remains serious in their eyes. One of them tries to put the facts into perspective: “It’s not necessarily racist to refer to someone by their skin color. Look at us, we’re all black. Sometimes we play against teams where there are only rebeux (beurs). When that happens to us, we say that we play against the Arabs, we don’t say that to be racist! ” One of his teammates interrupts him. “But it’s not the same! There, we are talking about a publicized event, a professional match! A referee doesn’t have to say that! ” All agree on one point: historical as it is, the actions of the players are unlikely to change things in depth. How to change mentalities? The seven friends quote again Samuel eto’o : “All the players would have to decide not to play anymore. The football authorities would lose so much money that they would be forced to find solutions. ”
–
